


I Know You

by itachiphobia



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 05:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12381789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itachiphobia/pseuds/itachiphobia
Summary: My contribution for the Naruto Femslash Event 2017Prompt: First Kiss / Training Session





	I Know You

Sakura ducked as soon as she heard the kunai whistling its way towards her. The kunai, which happened to be Ino’s, hit the tree behind the pinkette. Sakura had a hard time keeping up with Ino because the latter had gotten surprisingly good with handling weapons, thanks to her spending time with Tenten. Sakura realised she should have thought it through before accepting the challenge of a strictly taijutsu fight with no use of chakra.  

Just when Sakura thought she had dodged the knife, she noticed the paper wrapped around the kunai which was skilfully camouflaged in the grey of the kunai. She ran as fast as she could before the knife exploded, the blast loud enough to deafen Sakura for a while.

She hardly gained consciousness before she saw the blonde kunoichi rush towards her. Sakura raised her hands in defense, blocking away the punches Ino threw at her.  _This is weird,_  Sakura thought as she felt Ino gaining an edge over her.  _It’s like she can almost read my moves._

Sakura racked her brain, trying to come up with a strategy. It finally dawned on her to use the trick she had pulled on Naruto a couple of days ago when they had a sparring match. When Ino would raise her right hand to throw an attack at her, she’d use the opening to duck beneath the raised fist and attack from behind. A simple plan to throw the opponent off momentarily.

However, when Sakura tried to take her chance with her plan, Ino blocked her way and pushed her back with all her strength, keeping her from furthering her act. This continued for a couple of times: Sakura thinking of a strategy with Ino crushing the same strategy with an unforeseeable counter.

_It couldn’t be…_

Before Sakura knew it, she found herself on the ground with Ino’s kunai pointed to her neck. Her rival smirked at her from where she was standing, withdrawing the kunai and spinning it around her finger. Sweat trickled down her forehead, her face gleaming in the faint sunlight. Short strands of her long, blond hair fell on her face. Sakura couldn’t help but gawk at her with awe. She looked beautiful.

“I win, Forehead,” Ino gloated.

It had been some time since the two of them had fought like this. A long time, in fact. Sakura and Ino spent a lot of time with each other after the war, but they never had a chance to have a practice match like this. Whenever Sakura suggested it, Ino always seemed to be busy. Sakura believed that Ino just wanted to blow her off because she was afraid of losing to her. Ino’s victory over her naturally came as a shock to Sakura.

“You cheated!” Sakura declared as she stood up, snapping back to reality. “We decided against using Jutsu, but you were reading my mind, weren’t you? That has to be it!”

Ino did not lose her smirk. Instead, she scoffed. “I’d never cheat like that.” She let out a small laugh. “Sakura Haruno, accept your defeat.”

_God, her laugh._  It always got on Sakura’s nerves when Ino acted so full of herself.  _But dear God, did it make her seem more attractive._

Sakura stalked up to her, reducing the distance between them and looked into her eye, trying her best to maintain a stern look on her face. “You cheated, Pig. Admit it.”

Ino raised her eyebrow in a challenging manner, the smirk not fading from her lips. She stepped even closer, standing akimbo. “Or maybe,” she said, “I just know you a bit too well.”

Sakura bit her lower lip, narrowing her eyes at Ino. “How so?”

“You know, I have seen you train with Naruto and Lee so many times, I think I’ve gotten a hang of how you execute your moves.”

Sakura glared at her with incredulity. “So, all those times you were blowing me off, you were actually  _stalking_  me?”

Ino winced at her choice of words. “Just observing, not stalking. A wonderfully made plan to defeat my rival, carefully executed over a long period of time!” She laughed again. “I know you too well.”

“So, you did cheat!” Sakura said.  

“I did not!” Ino protested.

“I should’ve known your challenge was too good to be true. It was all so that I could meet the criteria of your stupid plan. You know chakra is my biggest strength so you took that advantage away from me.” This time it was Sakura who laughed. “You cheated, Pig.” She shook a finger below Ino’s chin. “In order to truly win, you must defeat me in a fight with no restrictions.”

“So, your argument is basically about you being bad at taijutsu fights,” Ino remarked, causing Sakura to frown. “Sakura Haruno, are you admitting to the fact that I’m better than you at hand-to-hand combat? If not, then why did you accept my challenge in the first place?”

Sakura remained speechless for a good, long moment before blurting out, “I am admitting to nothing of that sort!”

Ino lightly nudged Sakura with her hand. “I won fair and square. Observing your enemy is a part of every fight. That’s the point. You’re just too cocky to accept defeat.” She folded her arms over her chest.

Sakura responded with another faint nudge. “I am not cocky.”

“Oh, but you are. I know you,” Ino repeated. “I mean, I’ve known you since we were kids for goodness sake. I know what you were like, I know what you  _are_ like. I may not have been on many missions with you, but I know the kind of person you are.”

“Is that so?”

Ino nodded. “I don’t need to read your mind to know what you’re thinking.”

“So, what kind of person am I then?”

“A pretty ugly one.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding, kidding.” Ino chuckled under her breath. “Physical ugliness aside—” Sakura frowned. “—you’re beautiful on the inside, as cheesy as it sounds. I have seen you grow to become the kunoichi you are now.” Sakura’s glare became softer at her words, and so did Ino’s voice. “I know you have a kind heart, but you can be a jerk when you want to. You’ve grown stronger all on your own, and you don’t shy away from showing off what you’re capable of.” Ino flashed a toothy grin. “So yes, you  _are_  cocky sometimes.”  

Sakura just stared at her, a reaction the blonde did not expect. Ino continued, “It’s not like it’s a bad thing. You should be proud of yourself. You’ve become a big inspiration to people who don’t come from special clans. You’re someone people can only dream of becoming. You’re an inspiration.” She paused for a while, a sincere look on her face. “You’re  _my_  inspiration.”  

A strange silence took over, something that had never occurred between the two of them. Sakura was amazed at what she had said. The way Ino held her gaze could imply nothing but honesty, and that not only made Sakura feel giddy, but stirred something strange within her. Sakura couldn’t form a coherent thought in her head as she looked at her best friend.  

_Had her eyes always been this breath-taking? Had her acknowledgement always been this big of a deal to me? Was she really being honest? Was she always this … perfect?_  Seemingly unrelated questions clouded the neo-sannin’s mind, questions that puzzled her. Why was she thinking about such trivial and bizarre things?  _The way her lips moved when she talked, the way she laughed…_

Ino cleared her throat, breaking the silence between them. Raising her voice, she said, “And that’s why I want to defeat you so that  _I_  become an inspiration and take your place!” She let out a short, dry laugh. It was as though she felt she had spoken a lot more than what she wanted to say.

Sakura ignored what she said and stepped even closer, much to Ino’s surprise. “You know me that well, huh?” Sakura asked. Ino couldn’t help but notice how small the distance between them was. “So tell me, what am I thinking of now?”

“Forehead?” Ino asked cautiously. “What are you doing?”

“I thought you knew me,” Sakura taunted. “You’re free to read my mind if you can’t guess.”

“Hey, I don’t need to read your mind to—”

Before Ino could finish what she had to say, Sakura lips pressed against hers softly. The blonde kunoichi stood there, shocked. She wanted to do something—anything. But once she got over her shock, she involuntarily kissed her back, surprising even herself.

Of course, she knew what the girl in front of her was about to do. It was just that she couldn’t believe this was happening.  

Sakura wrapped her arms around Ino and pulled her closer. Time passed, but they couldn’t tell. They stood like that, kissing each other, holding on to each other. A minute may have passed, maybe two. But they didn’t care. They had waited long enough.

When Ino’s clouded mind was brought back to reality by her consciousness, she pulled away. “What was that for?” she piped, still dazed.

“For your victory, of course,” Sakura said, a warm smile playing on her lips. “You won fair and square after all.”

Ino blinked at her. “W-wow. I mean, you didn’t have t-to,” she stuttered.  

Sakura had managed to turn the ever-confident Ino Yamanaka into this stuttering mess. It was an achievement in its own right. Seeing the beautiful pink-haired girl beam at her like that, Ino smiled back too. Silence similar to the previous one dawned upon them again, but this time, it was a lot more familiar because it carried an air of acknowledgement—acknowledgement of feelings.

It didn’t take long for their smiles to crack into grins, and their grins to turn into joyous laughter.  

“That kiss was long due, wasn’t it?” Sakura mused.

“I didn’t know how much I wanted to do that,” Ino said. “That was…”

“Perfect?”

“I wanted to say ‘wet’, but sure.”

Sakura shook her head, still chuckling. “You’re a weirdo.”

“I’m your weirdo.”

“Wanna go for it again?” Sakura asked.

“The kiss or the fight?”

Sakura produced a kunai from her bag. “Take a guess,” she said as she smirked and twirled the knife in her hands, stepping back. “You know me too well, after all.”


End file.
